Bride murdered on South African 'honeymoon' was not officially married

By Sue ReidLast updated at 12:10 AM on 4th December 2010

Walking arm in arm by the warm Indian Ocean that Saturday evening, the ­‘honeymoon’ couple might have felt they made the perfect choice when they came to South Africa for this most romantic of holidays.

Yet, just a few hours later, Anni Hindocha would be dead, executed with a bullet to the back of her head, while the man she loved was left to make sense of a murder that has become the subject of intense speculation across the globe.

The controversy has involved the couple’s relatives and friends from four countries — Britain, South Africa, Sweden and India — as well as, bizarrely, the PR man Max Clifford. Tragic couple: Shrien Dewani and Anni before their 'wedding' in Mumbai which has not been registered anywhereAt the centre of this tragedy is Anni, a beautiful 28-year-old whose body has now been flown to Britain and cremated after a family funeral and Hindu prayer service.

Her father, Vinod Hindocha, has described how he fought back his emotions when he saw his daughter lying in her coffin: ‘My girl was so pretty. She looked calmly asleep and in peace. There was not a scratch visible on her face. I was so relieved about that.’

As for the man described as Anni’s husband, 30-year-old Shrien Dewani, he is reported to be under sedation at his West Country home.

A wealthy businessman from Bristol who runs a series of care homes, he is receiving counselling after bringing Anni’s body back here.

He is also in constant touch with Mr Clifford, whom he has hired for advice, but this week was refusing all media requests for an interview.

Inexplicably, the handsome Shrien, an accountant by training, has not been called back to South Africa by police to attend an identity parade of three local men who have now been charged with kidnap, robbery and murder.

Even as Mr Dewani keeps his counsel, though, the list of nagging inconsistencies surrounding Anni’s death grows.

Not least among them is the fact that, as the Mail can reveal today, the lavish £200,000 ‘marriage’ they went through in Mumbai in November in front of 300 guests was never officially registered there, or indeed anywhere else in the world.

In other words, the honeymooners were never honeymooners at all. Lavish: Up to 300 guests attended the Mumbai ceremony before the fateful honeymoon trip to South AfricaNot only that, an intriguing letter, sent this week to the Mail from people claiming to be Anni’s friends, asks troubling questions about Anni’s late-night abduction in a dangerous black township of Gugulethu, several miles from their Cape Town hotel.

She was found lying in an abandoned, blood-stained taxi on November 14 after an all-night police search.

Shrien says that nine hours earlier he was thrown out of the ‘back window’ of the same taxi at gunpoint and left, bewildered and alone, to sound the alarm.

So, what really happened to Anni, the girl who looked so happy in her ‘wedding’ photos a few weeks earlier?

Having studied as an engineer in Sweden, where she grew up with her parents and two siblings — her father sells heavy duty electrical equipment — she met Shrien Dewani in September 2009 after travelling to the UK to visit relatives.

It has emerged that, at the time, Shrien had just abruptly cancelled plans for a wedding to 26-year-old Rani Kansagra, the daughter of the London-based multi-millionaire founder of Indian budget airline SpiceJet.

Shrien says he fell for Anni at first sight, and within weeks he had proposed to her.

In February of this year, Anni left her job as a project manager at the Swedish mobile phone giant Ericsson in Stockholm, and was preparing to move permanently to Bristol to help organise their grand ceremony in Mumbai, where both had relatives. Suspect: One of the men accused of the murder is taken to court by South African police officersOne friend of Shrien whom the couple invited to India says: ‘It was a lavish event at an expensive hotel which has lawns running down to a lake. Guests flew in from London with Shrien and Anni. Everyone believed they were a couple made for each other.’

On the flight back home to London, it appears the couple were not on speaking terms.

A woman claiming to be an air hostess on the flight has said that Anni looked unhappy and was in tears.

‘One of my colleagues brought her some tissues,’ she recalls. ‘The couple did not speak one word to each other during the nine-hour flight. We all noticed and found this strange.’

The disturbing account was posted on a website and written under the hostess’s first name.

True or not, a few days later, Anni and Shrien flew off again — this time on honeymoon to South Africa.

They arrived in Johannesburg and travelled straight to the Kruger National Park for a game safari, before going on to the five-star Cape Grace hotel in Cape Town.

It had been booked by Shrien’s secretary in London, who, according to him, had also arranged for a taxi driver in a silver VW Sharan people-carrier from a local tour company, Platinum Escapes, to pick them up from the airport on Friday, November 12.

The driver’s name was Zola Tongo, a local man from a township near the city.

Thirty-one-year-old Tongo must have noticed that Anni and Shrien, who has been described as ‘showy about money’, were well off.

Happy couple: The pair appeared very much in love on their wedding dayThey were wearing jewellery, their luggage was expensive and Anni looked as though she had just stepped out of a Bond Street boutique.

At the end of the journey from the airport to the hotel via the N2 motorway, which threads its way through the notoriously dangerous black townships ­dotted around Cape Town, Shrien took Tongo’s mobile phone number and promised to call him if he and Anni wanted to take a trip out.

He and Anni spent the Saturday by the hotel pool. They phoned their relatives in England and Sweden, who say they sounded ecstatically happy.

Shrien made the call to Tongo and asked him to collect them at 7.30 in the evening to take them on a sightseeing tour of Cape Town. They both changed into smart outfits.

Anni was wearing a dress and one of the golden necklaces she was given during the Mumbai ­ceremony. Shrien was sporting a designer suit and open-necked shirt.It was already dark when the taxi driver arrived, again in the Volkswagen people-carrier.

His company has said he was acting as ‘a freelance’ that night and Shrien had arranged to pay him in cash.

The couple were driven around the city, past the new football stadium where the World Cup was staged this summer.

What happened next is unclear. Shrien says that he asked Tongo to drive out towards Somerset West, a ­seaside town on the eastern side of the Cape overlooking the Indian Ocean. It was already 8.30pm. Shrien had booked a table at 96 Winery Road, one of the Cape region’s top restaurants; but when the couple arrived, he says they thought it was too formal for them. In custody: One of the three suspects is transported in a police carSo they decided to head for the more informal Surfside Restaurant, which overlooks the sea at Strand, a little way along the coast from Somerset West. The couple asked Tongo to wait in the people-carrier while they took a walk by the sea.

By 9.30, they were eating sushi and curry, served by Surfside waiters Dayne Keen and Tamar Van Der Merwe. Shrien had a vodka, and Anni a glass of wine.

Dayne says the two of them appeared to be very much in love.

Tamar adds: ‘The woman seemed very sweet. They just chatted to each other. I did not see them kiss or hold hands.’

Soon after ten, Shrien and Anni were ready to go. They walked outside to the waiting Tongo in the people-carrier and set off back to the Cape Grace.

Shrien has given the Mail his version of what happened next. He did so in the tea room of his hotel the day after Anni was found murdered.

It is likely, of course, that he was in shock, and yet what he told us differs substantially from a second account he gave a week later.

Displaying no marks on his face, he told the Mail’s reporter, Dan Newling: ‘We had been planning on just ­coming back to the city centre and having a drink in the Waterfront area.

'But Anni grew up in Sweden and, to be honest, she felt as if the area around this hotel was just like at home: so clean and safe, a bit sterile.

‘She had never been to Africa before, so she suggested we should have a look at the “real Africa”.

‘The stop was on the way back here, and was intended so that we could experience a township.’ Questions: South African Police Commissioner Bheki Cele addresses a press conference on the killingHowever, when Shrien was asked by journalists to tell his story again seven days later — after he had taken what some would see as the extraordinary step of retaining Max Clifford — the details had changed.

This time, he insisted that it was Tongo — who continually made calls to what Shrien described as the ­driver’s ‘friends’ on his own mobile phone during the journey — who suggested a detour to the Gugulethu township, just off the N2.

Within a few minutes of arriving in the township, at 10.20, the car was attacked. Two gunmen banged on the window as the taxi stopped at traffic lights. The hijackers pushed the driver Tongo along the front seat and climbed into the car.

One of the gunmen took the wheel, driving for ten minutes before stopping and pushing Tongo out.

The journey then continued, according to Shrien’s description, with the gunmen making threats and swearing in broken English at the couple in the back.

After another ten minutes, Shrien was also pushed out of the car, even though he gave the two gunmen his mobile phone, his wallet and a gold necklace worn by Anni.

Shrien described it this way to the Mail: ‘It was two African male gunmen. They were banging their guns on the window.

'One used his gun to smash the driver’s window. I don’t want to go into detail about the attack, because I will probably start crying, and it might give other ­criminals ideas.

‘They coldly put a gun in my ear and pulled back the safety catch — it really was the stuff of movies.

‘I was dumped through the back of the passenger window as the car was moving. I landed on a patch of sand, landing first on my shoulder and then my forehead. It was in the ­middle of the township. Model looks: Tragic Anni had moved from Sweden to London‘I knocked on the doors of some shacks, but no one opened up. Then I noticed a man who was putting away his car and he agreed to call the police.’

By then, Anni had been driven off into the darkness, never to be seen alive again.

A young township girl, who declined to be named, told South African media that she saw Anni’s body as police removed it from the abandoned taxi after it was found about two miles away several hours later.

The student reportedly said: ‘When the policeman opened the door, I saw blood. Her pants were pulled below her knees and her dress pushed up to her stomach.

She was exposed, and her face was turned towards the door. The policemen quickly closed the door and pushed us away.’

Despite this, at a press conference held on November 18, South Africa’s Chief of Police Bheki Cele insisted: ‘There is no evidence at the moment that there was a sexual element to the assault.’

So, what became of Shrien as Anni was being killed in the most brutal fashion? He was discovered at around 11pm by a Cape Town accountant named Simbonile Matokazi, who lived in Guguletha.

Simbonile says that when he came across him, the Briton did not have any visible injuries, nor did he look ‘roughed up’.

‘I just saw a decent guy wearing a suit and a nice shirt coming towards me from behind some shacks,’ he says. There were no reports of any blood on his clothing to implicate him in the murder.

Inevitably, local people are asking two questions. Could a grown man fit through the rear passenger ­window, as Shrien says he did?

'Inevitably, local people are asking two questions. Could a grown man fit through the rear passenger ­window, as Shrien says he did?' And having been through such an ordeal, how come his clothes were not torn, or his shoes dirtied?These are not the only mysteries surrounding Anni’s death. A letter received by the Mail, and signed by ‘the devoted friends and acquaintances of our beloved Anni’, says she knew Nigeria and Kenya well, contradicting Shrien’s suggestion that she had never been to Africa before.

‘It is beyond comprehension that Anni ­suggested seeing “the real Africa” in such a ­dangerous area at such a late hour,’ says the ­letter. ‘She was an intelligent and smart girl.’The letter, sent by post, was unsigned, but ­written in perfect English and typed out.

It adds: ‘We believe the South African investigation may be a whitewash, and Anni’s demise is highly mysterious.’

The allegations — and of course they are no more than that — are made all the more fascinating by the fact that, as the Mail discovered this week, the Mumbai ‘wedding’ ceremony, apparently so carefully planned by Shrien, is not ­recognised as a formal marriage in law.

We have confirmed with the British High ­Commission in Delhi that the union was never registered in India, and therefore would not have been recognised in either Britain or Sweden.

From his home in Sweden, Anni’s father has also confirmed: ‘My wife and I are Anni’s closest relatives — not Shrien. She was not formally married to Shrien.

'According to the authorities (in Britain and Sweden), Anni was still Miss Hindocha when she died.

‘The marriage registration was not going to happen until March next year, when Anni had her birthday in Britain and they switched rings, which is our custom.’

So, what will happen next in this most intriguing and tragic of cases?

South Africa’s Mail and Guardian newspaper recently reported that Shrien Dewani ‘will be arrested and charged’ in connection with Anni’s murder if he returns to the country, a suggestion rejected by Max Clifford.

If correct, this would be an extraordinary course for the investigation to take.

In the meantime, Anni’s driver on the night she died must return to court to face charges over her death, along with two men — who may have been known to him — from the Khayeltisha township where Anni’s body was found in the taxi.

Those two are claiming they were tortured by South African police into making a confession that they killed Anni. One says detectives ‘assaulted him’, then suffocated him using a plastic bag.

Meanwhile, back in Bristol, Shrien Dewani — who says there was no insurance policy covering Anni’s life, so he does not stand to make a penny from her death — remains silent, grieving for the woman he loved, and awaiting instruction from Max Clifford.

Like littlepixie, I also thought something was up when this first broke. I worked with a girl from South Africa and she said that you never venture into those areas EVER. A tourist would not ask to go there in the first place. The fact that he did, suggests something was up from the start.

Hubby and I were in Cape Town in february this year for the marriage of our son to a lovely young lady from South Africa. We travelled about a great deal and though we often passed by townships we never went into them. P our daughter in law said they were far too dangerous even in daylight, so I am amazed how a taxi driver would agree to take tourists into a township. He would know how dangerous they are.

Well how did these supposed bandits happen upon them? Its not the kind of place you happen upon strangers, so I ruled out opportunist crime, so that said it was planned and funny the husband got away not far off unscathed.

The allegations — and of course they are no more than that — are made all the more fascinating by the fact that, as the Mail discovered this week, the Mumbai ‘wedding’ ceremony, apparently so carefully planned by Shrien, is not ­recognised as a formal marriage in law.

We have confirmed with the British High ­Commission in Delhi that the union was never registered in India, and therefore would not have been recognised in either Britain or Sweden.

From his home in Sweden, Anni’s father has also confirmed: ‘My wife and I are Anni’s closest relatives — not Shrien. She was not formally married to Shrien.

'According to the authorities (in Britain and Sweden), Anni was still Miss Hindocha when she died.‘The marriage registration was not going to happen until March next year, when Anni had her birthday in Britain and they switched rings, which is our custom.’

I hadn't known this before

Also two thing stand out for me

Two things stand out imo

1. His clothes were not ruffled or he didn't have any injuries after apparently being thrown from a car.

2. Why kill his wife, and leave him alive when he could at some later stage identify them if they were caught. I don't see any mention of masks.

@theolivebranch wrote:Hubby and I were in Cape Town in february this year for the marriage of our son to a lovely young lady from South Africa. We travelled about a great deal and though we often passed by townships we never went into them. P our daughter in law said they were far too dangerous even in daylight, so I am amazed how a taxi driver would agree to take tourists into a township. He would know how dangerous they are.

Of course he would have known the dangers. Indeed he would have known that in some cases. people will not even drive along the main roads past these townships without being in a convoy of other vehicles.

@theolivebranch wrote:Hubby and I were in Cape Town in february this year for the marriage of our son to a lovely young lady from South Africa. We travelled about a great deal and though we often passed by townships we never went into them. P our daughter in law said they were far too dangerous even in daylight, so I am amazed how a taxi driver would agree to take tourists into a township. He would know how dangerous they are.

Of course he would have known the dangers. Indeed he would have known that in some cases. people will not even drive along the main roads past these townships without being in a convoy of other vehicles.

We drove past them in daylight hours but never later. Having said that there were certain areas even in the centre of Capetown where we didn't go after dark. A beautiful place but had to be aware at all times.

The British newly-wed accused of paying to have his bride killed on their South African honeymoon is to be held in jail overnight after an appeal was lodged against the granting of £250,000 bail.

Shrien Dewani, who was arrested last night on a South African extradition warrant, was initially granted bail when he appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court today.

But the South African authorities lodged an immediate appeal, which means the businessman from Bristol will be held in custody pending a High Court hearing.

Dewani, whose wife Anni, 28, was shot dead last month as they visited a township, was arrested on suspicion of conspiring to murder her.

The 30-year-old was accused of ordering her death by taxi driver Zola Tongo as he was sentenced for his part in the killing in a South African court yesterday.

The court heard that Tongo had not only implicated Dewani in the murder, but had also mentioned to another man that he thought it was not the first time the Briton had arranged such a killing.

The taxi driver said he got the impression that Dewani had been in South Africa before and "had done something like this before and said he wanted the murder to look like a hijacking", according to a statement given to South African police by an alleged middleman.

Acting for the South African authorities, lawyer Ben Watson told today's extradition hearing that Dewani had met Tongo at Cape Town international airport and arranged for him to take him and his new bride to their hotel and to act as their tour guide.

As their guide, Tongo collected the couple from their hotel and took them out for dinner at a seafood restaurant.

On their way back, they passed through the dangerous Gugulethu township, where the allegedly pre-ordered hijacking took place, Mr Watson said.

Speaking outside City of Westminster Magistrates' Court today, members of Mrs Dewani's family said they wanted "justice for Anni".

The relatives, including three women cousins, appeared shaken after hearing details of the case.

Asked if Mr Dewani should return to South Africa, one man said: "I would say he needs to go. That is all I would say."

Another family member added as they pushed through a scrum of media, "Nothing will bring our daughter back."

South Africa blocks bail for millionaire held in UK jail accused of ordering hit on new wife in carjack township murderBy DAILY MAIL REPORTERLast updated at 6:55 PM on 8th December 2010Businessman is accused of hiring two hitmen to target his wife AnniHe denies 'ludicrous' allegations and is desperate to clear his nameAnni's family demand justice and say Dewani should return to South AfricaHead of South African opposition: 'He must be extradited'The millionaire businessman accused of paying hitmen £1,400 to have his bride kidnapped, robbed and murdered on their honeymoon tonight had his bail blocked by the South African authorities.

Shrien Dewani, 30, appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London on an extradition warrant 24 hours after being accused of conspiring to murder his new wife Anni.

Dewani's legal team were told he could be released on bail as long as a surety of £250,000 was produced within two hours.

But the South African authorities lodged an immediate appeal, which means the businessman from Bristol will now be held in custody pending a High Court hearing.

Anni's relatives were in court to see her husband in the dock. Outside, they demanded justice in her name and insisted he should return to South Africa to face trial.

'We want justice for Anni. We want to see justice being done and all the evidence being listened to and a fair trial for Anni,' they said.

'Traumatised': A van believed to contain Shrien Dewani arriving at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court

Shortly before the hearing, Dewani protested his innocence and insisted he would welcome the opportunity to clear his name but it is not yet clear whether he will fight extradition.

The millionaire appeared in court after handing himself into police in Bristol last night and spending the night in custody.

He went to police after taxi driver Zola Tongo, who was sentenced in South Africa yesterday for his part in the killing, accused him of ordering her death.

His lawyer Clare Montgomery said in a statement this afternoon said: 'Shrien Dewani had no involvement in the death of his wife Anni.

'He is devastated by her murder and the false allegations that have been made against him and welcomes the chance to clear his name through the courts.'

One of South Africa's most senior politicians - Helen Zille, leader of the country's main opposition party, also insisted today that the Briton 'must be extradited'.

She appeared to believe the South African police’s claim that Dewani arranged the murder of his wife, saying: 'I can't believe there is such evil in the world.'

Referring to the allegation that he employed three South Africans to carry out the ‘hit’ for him, she added: 'This evil appears to have been compounded by the abuse of South Africans.'

Murdered: Shrien Dewani (left) will appear before court today accused of involvement in the death of his wife Anni

A spokesman for the country’s powerful Congress of South African Trade Unions said: 'The murder appears to have been planned on the assumption that hijacking and murder are believed to be so commonplace that it would be easy to stage a murder and then claim it was another normal criminal act.

'Let us hope that the swift and efficient way in which this case has been dealt with, and the fact that it is now becoming clear that it was planned by a non-South African, will help to restore the country’s reputation to the levels we achieved during and after the World Cup.'

Addressing allegations of a set-up, she said: 'If Max Clifford [Dewani's spokesman] is telling the truth, his client will not hesitate to submit to cross-examination in a South African court of law.

'I would prefer to believe a judge than Max Clifford. His comments about South Africa are outrageous. For him to try and tarnish our image enrages every South African. Shrien must be extradited. We must get to the truth of this gruesome murder'

Public relations guru Clifford had this morning told how his client was devastated after his night in the cells and insisted he too only wanted justice.

'All he wants is for the truth to come out and for justice to be done. He knows he is totally innocent,' he said.

Mr Clifford added: 'He's obviously shell-shocked and traumatised after spending a night in custody. It was a nervous night. '

The PR expert insisted the allegations were 'ludicrous' and were the result of a self-confessed murderer striking a plea bargain to reduce his jail sentence.

Dewani appeared at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court, just 24 hours after WikiLeaks chief Julian Assange stood in the same dock to face extradition proceedings.

The Met Police said he was arrested under a warrant issued at the request of the South African authorities.

Mrs Dewani, 28, was shot dead on November 13 after two gunmen ambushed Tongo’s cab near Cape Town as he drove the newlyweds on a tour to see the ‘real Africa’.

After the attack, Mr Dewani told how he was devastated.

But yesterday there were gasps in the public gallery as Cape Town’s High Court heard Tongo’s sensational claim, as public prosecutors outlined a plea bargain by the driver that has seen him jailed for 18 years, reduced from a likely 25 years.

@theolivebranch wrote:Hubby and I were in Cape Town in february this year for the marriage of our son to a lovely young lady from South Africa. We travelled about a great deal and though we often passed by townships we never went into them. P our daughter in law said they were far too dangerous even in daylight, so I am amazed how a taxi driver would agree to take tourists into a township. He would know how dangerous they are.

True, my OH said the same having worked there for 5 years. He said blacktownship is rougher then toughest part of new york even if escorted in daylight. A honeymoon couple going there at night is courting trouble unless there's sinsiter reason behind. Dewani said it was Anni's idea to see the 'real africa' but a dead person cannot verify that. Why did he agree to her request and why at night. Couldnt he wait till daylight.

Expensive PR and best lawyer same as mccanns. Seems that is the latest trend of the rich. Inconsistent testimonies and suspicious circumstances...all very familiar.

A lawyer for authorities in South Africa has claimed CCTV footage exists of Shrien Dewani twice meeting the taxi driver accused of murdering the Briton's wife.The images, taken by a hotel camera, allegedly show Dewani meeting the driver both before and after Anni Dewani's death.

CCTV footage exists of repeated meetings between Shrien Dewani and the taxi driver accused of murdering the Briton's wife, it has been claimed.A lawyer for South African authorities has told a court in London that the honeymooner spoke to Zola Tongo on the phone.

He also said cameras in the Cape Town hotel where the Dewanis were staying captured several meetings between the husband and Tongo, who has been jailed for 18 years over the murder.

The meetings allegedly took place both before and after Anni Dewani was shot dead.

Outside court, Sky News reporter Alistair Bunkall said: "The most interesting piece of evidence was footage apparently taken three days after Mrs Dewani's death, seeming to show the husband handing over a white packing to the driver."

The lawyer offered the evidence as argument against granting Dewani bail, claiming he posed a significant flight risk.

A judge has revoked bail for the newlywed, who was not in court.

Dewani's family, however, attended proceedings - as did members of his wife's family.

As part of a plea bargain in South Africa, Tongo claimed he was paid by Dewani to organise the shooting.

But now Eastern Cape police are investigating whether he was involved in the hijacking and shooting of a King Williamstown doctor four years ago.

Shrien Dewani walked out of a London court yesterday – on bail of R2,7 million. But now Eastern Cape police are investigating whether he was involved in the hijacking and shooting of a King Williamstown doctor four years ago.

Dewani, who was fingered in a dramatic plea bargain by Cape Town taxi driver Zola Tongo this week for arranging the hijacking and murder of his brand-new bride Anni in Gugulethu four weeks ago for R15 000, was arrested by British police on Wednesday.

The millionaire care home owner was finally released on bail from London’s Wandsworth prison last night. He will wear an electronic tag and is under strict curfew as the South African government prepares to have him extradited to face trial here.

Tongo claimed in his confession on Tuesday that Dewani had told him he had previously arranged for someone to be killed in a fake hijacking in South Africa.

Now detectives are looking to see if this isn’t the missing clue to the unsolved murder of Dr Pox Raghavjee.

At the time of the Port Elizabeth doctor’s murder, police said his wife, Heather Raghavjee, had reported him missing after he did not open his surgery and failed to answer his cellphone at 9:30am on October 29, 2007. No motive for the murder was ever established as his cellphone, watch and wallet with R500 were found on the scene.

“Soon after the murder of Dr Pox, his wife went and stayed in Cape Town where she was said to be grieving and it is understood that she had visited the mother city before the murder as well,” said a source close to the case.

Heather Raghavjee has close ties to Dewani and his family. She travelled with King Williamstown businessman Peter Dhaya to Cape Town on the Monday after Anni was killed to comfort Dewani. “Shrien’s father and family were here (King Williamstown) last December and that is how Heather came to know and befriend the family because my family hosted them,” Dhaya confirmed to the Saturday Star’s sister newspaper, the Weekend Argus, yesterday.

Although she did not want to go into details about the investigation, police spokesperson Captain Thozama Solani said they were now investigating the case and trying to see if there were any links between the two murders.

“The case had always been open and remained a mystery to us because even though there was a R100 000 reward offered there were no leads, but in light of the new information we are putting all we have got in solving the case,” said Solani.

Yesterday, Tongo’s family publicly apologised to Anni Dewani’s family and the country for his role in her murder.

She also apologised to the country for the damage the case has caused its reputation. She and his mother, Liziwe, planned to visit him in prison today. “We are in shock and would like some answers.”

Tongo’s aunt said his mother was too traumatised to speak to the media. She was admitted to hospital for a week after she heard that her son had been arrested.

“It is a huge shock for all of us that Zola could be involved in something like this. He comes from a good family. He worked hard and was quiet. He was not a criminal and was not involved in crimes or with gangsters. We are all asking: why did he do it?”

Earlier this week Tongo was jailed for 18 years as part of a plea bargain after being convicted of murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravating circumstances and perverting the course of justice.

In his confession, Tongo said Dewani offered to pay R15 000 for the murder of his new wife, Anni, 28. He claimed he was told to make it look like a hijacking as they drove through Gugulethu.

Dewani handed himself over to police in Bristol and appeared in the City of Westminster Magistrate’s Court on a charge of conspiracy to commit murder just hours after Tongo’s statement was read.

Yesterday lawyers for the South African government told a British court that there was significant new evidence – including closed-circuit footage showing Dewani allegedly obtaining black market money to fund the murder – indicating there was a powerful case against him.

But Judge Duncan Ouseley disagreed. “I have concluded that he has a continuing and realistic interest in making sure that he clears his name.

“He has no criminal convictions, is professionally qualified and his family is of high standing in the local community in Bristol, with no obvious interest in helping him to abscond.”

Because of the “tragic and terrible murder of his wife”, his face was well known and it would be difficult for him to depart the UK or “go underground”.

Last night National Prosecuting Authority spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said the NPA respected the ruling and was preparing documents for an extradition hearing. Justice Minister Jeff Radebe guaranteed that Dewani would get a fair trial if the extradition bid succeeded. “Our courts jealously uphold and enforce the Constitution, including the accused’s rights.”

Two other people, Xolile Mnguni, 23, and Mziwamadoda Qwabe, 25, face charges of murder, aggravated robbery and kidnapping. They are expected to appear in court in February. A fourth suspect Monde Mbolombo, who used to work for Protea Hotel Colosseum, was named as the link between Tongo and the two alleged gunmen. - Saturday Star

Johannesburg - The middle man who allegedly recruited two young hitmen from Khayelitsha to kill Swedish tourist Anni Dewani is a receptionist at the Protea Hotel Colosseum in Cape Town, City Press reports.

Monde Mbolombo is the key State ­witness in the case against ­Dewani’s husband, Shrien, who ­allegedly paid R15 000 for the hit.

Mbolombo has been granted indemnity from prosecution and will not be spending any time in jail if he testifies truthfully in Anni ­Dewani’s murder trial.

At 17:35 on the day Anni was killed, Mbolombo posted the ­following message in Xhosa on his Facebook page: “Jengokuba undibilisela amanzi, awakho ayatsholoza,” which means “you are plotting against me, but there is bigger trouble coming for you”.

City Press has reliably learned how police used the so-called ­domino strategy – the same method used by the Scorpions to nail former police boss Jackie Selebi – to make a breakthrough in the case.

After forensically linking one of the shooters to the crime scene, police arrested Xolile Mnguni and Mziwamadoda Qwabe for shooting Anni, and they then implicated ­Mbolombo as the man who ­recruited them.

After being apprehended by the police, Mbolombo began to sing.

'Disappeared'

According to colleagues, he ­“disappeared” from work for three weeks.

Mbolombo’s brother, Patrick, ­declined to speak to City Press, but said his brother was definitely not in custody and was co-operating fully with police.

Mbolombo has given the police a full witness statement that implicates shuttle driver Zola Tongo as well as Shrien Dewani.

This statement was used to ­convince Tongo, who met Mbolombo at the Colosseum Hotel, from where he was also operating, to enter into a plea ­bargain agreement with the State.

Tongo was sentenced to 18 years in prison in return for making an affidavit implicating Shrien Dewani in the hit on his wife by allegedly ordering it.

Dewani is fighting his ­extradition to South Africa to face trial after he was released on bail of £250 000 (R2.7m) by the London High Court on Friday.

In an interview with City Press on Friday a close relative of ­Mnguni said he was approached by Qwabe “because they needed a trigger man and knew that he was capable”.

Qwabe lives a few houses away from Mnguni in ­Khayelitsha.

Successful job

Mnguni was out on bail in ­another murder case when he allegedly killed Anni Dewani. Days after the ­murder, Mnguni boasted in a Khayelitsha tavern about his ­“successful job”.

A family member who did not want to be named said: “He always beats these cases. He always comes back, so he is not really worried about this one either. The only thing he was worried about was ­being held in Bellville. He wanted to be in Pollsmoor and now that he is there he is back to normal.”

National Police Commissioner Bheki Cele ­confirmed on Saturday that police were ­investigating a potential link ­between the murder of Anni Dewani and the assassination in October 2007 of popular King William’s Town doctor, Pox Raghavjee.

Raghavjee was a friend of Shrien Dewani’s family and his son, ­Krischen, lives in Bristol, close to the Dewanis.

When City Press visited Alvita Raghavjee, Krischen’s wife, on ­Friday at the Bristol travel agency she works at, Alvita, visibly upset, refused to ­discuss the matter and chased City Press out of the shop.

It has been disclosed that Shrien allegedly told Tongo he had arranged a hit in South Africa before.

Pox Raghavjee’s wife, Heather, was in the UK visiting family, and she visited Shrien in Cape Town shortly after Anni’s murder. The police in Eastern Cape want to interview her as she was the complainant in her husband’s murder case.

PROSECUTORS in South Africa have now formally submitted papers demanding the extradition of honeymoon hijack husband Shrien Dewani, it was confirmed today. Officials said documents relating to the case had been handed to South Africa's Department of Justice.

The National Prosecuting Authority said they remained confident Mr Dewani would be brought back to the country to stand trial over claims he paid a gang of criminals £1,400 to murder his new bride Anni, 28, during the couple's November honeymoon in Cape Town.

Spokesman Mthunzi Mhaga said: "The extradition order has now been prepared by prosecutors and submitted to the Department of Justice.

"That department will process it and pass it to the Department of International Affairs, who will forward it to their counterparts in the UK.

"As far as the prosecution is concerned that is all they can do for now as regards this matter.

"However we remain very confident that Dewani will be extradited. We believe that in time we will have him here as an accused."

Confirmation that the South Africans have submitted an extradition request for Mr Dewani comes more than a fortnight after the Bristol-based care home boss was arrested in Britain.

Mr Dewani handed himself in to police on December 7, hours after a court in South Africa heard claims that he had paid to arrange a hit on his wife.

Swedish engineering graduate Anni was found dead on November 14, hours after the taxi the couple were travelling in was held up by two men in the Gugulethu township near Cape Town.

The driver of the car Zola Tongo, 31, was one of three men arrested after the horror.

He later made a plea bargain with prosecutors and claimed in court he had arranged the gunmen to stage a hijacking after Mr Dewani offered him 15,000 rand for his wife's murder.

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Tongo, who met the Dewanis at Cape Town International airport as they arrived for their honeymoon the day before the incident, was jailed for 18 years for his part in the crime.

Two other men, Xolile Mngeni, 23, and Mzwamadoda Qwabe, 26, have also been charged over the tragedy and will stand trial in February.

Mr Dewani, from Westbury-on-Trym near Bristol, has always adamantly denied any part in his wife's death.

He was released on £250,000 bail and will appear in court in January to fight extradition to South Africa.